Are You Monitoring the Top 3 Dental Marketing Metrics?

Dentists are trained as clinicians, not as marketers. And yet, many dentists still take a hands-on approach with their marketing. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Too often, a trial-and-error approach is nothing more than a trying experience that’s filled with errors. Most hands-on dentists’ marketing approaches reflect those errors. After the break, I’ll tell you about the 3 marketing metrics you absolutely must monitor if you’re going to keep your chairs filled without breaking the bank.

– I’m Colin Receveur.

– Thanks for watching the Patient Attraction Podcast™.

– I know thousands of dentists, and I’ve learned one undeniable truth from them.

– VERY few dentists are good at marketing their practices.

– Look, I sympathize.

– My dad’s now a very successful dentist, but I saw firsthand that he wasn’t always good at marketing his practice.

– And the marketing field is very different now than it was when he first got into dentistry.

– What always surprises me is how many dentists are still marketing like it’s 3o years ago.

– 90 percent of your potential patients are using Google, Bing, or Yahoo search as their first step.

– They’re not rummaging around for that postcard you sent out 2 months ago or looking in the phone book.

– If you want patients to find you and choose you to solve their dental problems, you have to be a strong presence where they’re looking.

– And there’s no more competitive landscape these days than the internet.

– I know that you didn’t study search engine optimization in dental school, much less everything else that goes into being found online and chosen as THE dentist to solve your prospects’ dental problems.

– And you shouldn’t concern yourself with all that now.

– You don’t make money doing your own online or offline marketing.

– You make money by seeing patients and solving their dental problems.

– The vast majority of dentists are better served by hiring a trusted dental marketing firm.

– But you should know how to monitor the most important indicators of how successful your marketing is.

– In the end, there is only one metric that really matters, and that’s how many new patients you’re getting in your chairs.

– But if you learn and keep an eye on the 3 metrics I’m going to tell you about, you’ll be able to see problems in your marketing before they become severe.

– Metric number 1: Traffic to your website.

– Your website is often the last stop for prospects before they choose you.

– If you’re not getting much traffic to your site, you can’t get that many new patients.

– You won’t get every prospect, but more traffic offers the opportunity for more new patients.

– Google Analytics can monitor your website traffic and provide a host of data about the behaviors of visitors to your site.

– Metric number 2: The number of leads your website generates.

– Decision making is a process, not an event.

– Dental prospects can take quite a while to make up their minds about a dentist.

– Your website should offer something of value for your prospects in exchange for their email addresses.

– Once they opt in to receive more information from you, you’re positioned to stay in front of them until they choose you.

– Each prospect who opts in is a lead, and leads are a good indication of the effectiveness of your marketing.

– Again, not every lead will become an appointed patient, but you can track how many do.

– That can help you pinpoint issues with the information you’re sending them.

– And the final metric is new patient phone calls to your practice.

– That one is almost impossible to monitor without having call tracking in place.